difference between the "types" of corals?

[palmer373]

ive been curious for a while. i have heard some names like "Digitate Acropora", "Bottlebrush Acropora", "Bushy Acropora", "Branching Acropora", and "Tabling Acropora", "Staghorn Acropora" amoung others i forgot. im curious what the difference is between the types of each acros and stuff. it really confuses me and makes more since to me to just have 1 name but thats cuase i dont know whats the difference. also for chalices and some montis, ive heard "encrusting", "plating", and "scrolling". im just curious what each one means and how its different then the other types. i know a lot of you are smart so im hoping you have the answers lol.

 

[phenom5]

Basically it's the type of growth that they exhibit.

Something that I think may be tripping you up, based on your post...Acropora, as an example is the genius. There are hundreds, if not thousands of species of acropora...acropora valida, acropora tenius, acropora pulchra, and so on.

 

[plyle02]

Alot of the said corals have their origin name that is attached as far as species goes. However, depending on their native waters, the manner in which they are acquired, then tank raised, to then how they morph and gain LABEL names, and are fragged and regrown to ultimately gain LABEL names does get a bit confusing...

As far as plating, scrolling, encrusting, tabling, branching all refer to the manner of how the coral, depending on species behaves and grows, naturally in their said environment.

Many times, a coral comes in wild or maricultured and a "cherry picker" quickly identifies that coral as a certain variety or type of coral, depending on what is hot, the coral moves into quarenteen and is dipped (hopefully ), then held to see what happens in the confines of a manmade environment. If the coral responds well, the coral then is grown then clipped and regrown to become 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation, etc... This coral then has the potential, overtime, to become a tank raised acquacultured coral that becomes unique to the tank in which it was raised, and how it reacts, adjusts, and morphs under the replicated reef conditions. Now a LABEL is placed on a this coral and is identified as a "Special" type of species of coral, so on we go with the names... I love the hobby and all that comes with it, so on with the labels, I have a few fancy ones too.... Happy Reefing!

 

[palmer373]

ok thanks guys.

phenom5- ok thats what ive been told. i was just using acropora as an example coral, i was on DD and all those acro names i posted were on there so i was like "um ok thats confusing".

plyle02- oh ok that makes since lol. is was curious cuase at the most recent meeting for my local reefing club, we were talking and one of the members was talking about a digitate and i was really curious whats the difference between that and other corals. like whats the difference in growht or something? when i look at DD and see like the labels, i can tell bushy grows close like a bush, staghorn reminds me of like elk or caribou antlers, and stuff like that.